(CBS GAMESPOT) – BioWare has revealed the latest party member for upcoming role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition. A moustached mage named Dorian, he is the first “legitimately gay” character BioWare lead series writer David Gaider has ever written and he’s already drumming up some controversy.

“It added an interesting dimension to his backstory, considering he comes from a place where ‘perfection’ is the face that every mage puts on and anything that smacks of deviancy is shameful and meant to be hidden,” Gaider said in a post on the Dragon Age website. “Dorian’s refusal to play along with that façade is seen as stubborn and pointless by his family, which has contributed to his status as a pariah.”

“I suppose this aspect of Dorian will make him controversial in some corners, but I was glad to include it,” he added. “It made writing Dorian a very personal experience for me, and I’m hopeful that will make him seem like a fully realized character to fans in the end.”

In this post on the Dragon Age Inquisition website, Gaider initially referred to Dorian as “fully gay,” which led some level of criticism over this label. He has since apologized, explaining that he meant to say “legitimately” gay, in that Dorian will only romance men. “I was trying to be clear–many people consider the bi characters we’ve done to be ‘gay,'” Gaider said.